Cathy Glass Book Reviews

I’m quite an obsessive reader, and I mean obsessive in the sense that if I find a book I love, I will just read it and read it until I finish it which usually means I finish most books within a few days and have been known to stay up late into the night, my nose inches from the page fuelled by teas and coffees! For the record, I am completely aware of how unhealthy this is and this probably does reflect just how impatient I can be at times!

The Cathy Glass books definitely fall into this category for me. I bought the last three books and yep – read them all in three days.

I just had to give a shout out to these. They are a non-fiction series written by foster carer and author Cathy Glass and Glass’s books each feature an experience with one of the children she has fostered. I read in one of Glass’s interviews, when asked how she chooses which children to write about, that she would try and write about a child that is representative of a ‘group’. I.e. in one of her books, a child was smuggled into the country illegally, whereas another book covers the experiences of a pregnant teenager, and another, a child with learning difficulties.

With over twenty years in the fostering industry, Glass has written 16 books on true fostering stories and I read the final book The Child Bride a few days ago. All of her books usually make me shed a tear (or two) due to the saddening circumstances of the children, not necessarily due to child abuse (although that’s a regular issue) but just because of how some situations unfold; I think one of the saddest books I read was The Night the Angels Came. For the record, I have shared a lot of happy tears too!

You become so involved in the novels, that after reading any one of these books, I defy anyone not to come away feeling inspired to be a better person and to want to help people! Also the author always appears to handle every situation with such patience and composure – something I’m working on!

I do recommend these, but I think a lot of people worry that what with the nature of the books, that they might be a little depressing. Of course the experiences these children have gone through are truly heart breaking, but they are also inspirational and hopeful, and do they have a knack of making you more appreciative. But, considering that some of the topics are quite heavy, the books are so easy to read and definitely would appeal to a wide range of audiences. I think I read my fist one after my parents started fostering when I was around 15, and ten years later, I still love them. And as I said, they do help me put things into perspective at times if I’m having a particularly bad day over nothing.

I got a lovely tweet from Cathy on twitter recently where she mentioned that she would be bringing out another book in September so super excited for that! (It’s so hard to refer to the author as ‘Glass’ rather than ‘Cathy’ and keep it formal as you feel you really get to know her and her family through her books!).

You can read the books in whatever order you like really; there may be the occasional reference that’s not fully understood if read in a random order, but nothing that will be detrimental to the novels’ timeline. However, the full reading list is available in the correct order on the author’s website if you’re interested ( I read it in order). Also on the site are Cathy’s other books, and updates about the foster children, so it’s lovely having that bit of extra information when the book has finished!

If you are interested in the interview with Cathy Glass I mentioned earlier, then use the link here. It’s a few years old but still relevant.

I would love to know if anyone else has read these books and what you think of them.

2 Comments

Mrs Linda Murphy

I have all Cathy’s books and read them over & over. Once read, i try to put them in order according to her children’s ages, bit cheeky but then i can resonate the stories more.
Just finished FINDING STEVIE, a book with different problems from her earlier fostering stories, very modern infact. Brilliant read.l